Two Heads of a Hydra By Darby Sherwood WHY I LIKE IT: Drama editor JANET COLSON writes: Two Heads of a Hydra is an epic extravaganza with elements of epic theatre itself. The play is a Greek tragedy told through the lens of ancient Greek mythology that takes us from Prometheus getting his heart pecked out by an eagle to the Salem witch trials to the anti-gay purges in modern day Chechnya as if they were all happening in the present. The play is both timely and timeless. It’s an actor’s feast with opportunities to dig down deep and play double and triple roles. It’s expert storytelling and great theatre. It’s also f-ing brutal. Thanks to the gods and to playwright Darby Sherwood for giving us a Greek chorus of nine muses who bring their own baggage into the mix and help us sort through ours. The muses bear the responsibility of witnessing history repeat itself while questioning the horror perpetuated by gods and mortals alike. They also tell us stories, such as the one about the hydra: THALIA And what about the hydra? CALLIOPE Every time one head got cut off, another one grew back in its place. The play is about the power of stories, how they work on us at a conscious and unconscious level. These stories offer us insight, but give us no closure. And they exist beyond the realm of theatre, provoking us to take action. MELPOMENE Do you ever wonder why the gods seem so concerned with repetition? URANIA They watch history repeat itself. Day-in and day-out, they witness as humankind makes the same mistakes. So I guess the worst punishment is to see everything And yet be powerless to do anything May the gods take heed. Five stars. (Spacing and font size are playwright’s own.) Eds. Two Heads of a Hydra By Darby Sherwood SYNOPSIS Two Heads of a Hydra is a story that spans continents and centuries, featuring dual storylines in modern-day Chechnya and 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, as well as intervention from the Muses. It follows parallel Greek tragedy structures to discuss the ways that inequalities are propagated when they’re mourned and then forgotten. CHARACTERS Chechnya Salem Greek Chorus Kesira Verity Calliope Raisa Rachel Clio Keram Jonas Erato Malika Ethel Euterpe Pyotr Abigail Melpomene Police Officer Temperance Polyhymnia Taxi Driver Dorothy Terpsichore Chief Magistrate Stoughton Thalia Newton Urania Executioner DOUBLING Characters can be doubled in a variety of ways. The current format is optimized for these doublings: 1. Kesira/Temperance/Melpomene 2. Raisa/Abigail/Thalia 3. Keram/Newton/Erato 4. Malika/Verity/Clio 5. Pyotr/Taxi Driver/Chief Magistrate Stoughton/Terpsichore 6. Police Officer/Jonas/Euterpe 7. Rachel/Urania 8. Ethel/Polyhymnia 9. Dorothy/Calliope SETTING Chechnya, 2019 and Salem, 1692 NOTES ● Each scene should flow as seamlessly as possible into the next PERFORMANCE HISTORY METEA VALLEY THEATRE (February 2018) - Directed by Darby Sherwood and Abha Naik Stage Managed by Truman Mitchell Cast - Michael Miller, Maya Williams, Annie Sweeton, Alyssa Livorsi, Emma Carlson, Roger Valdez, Jordan Mamon, Macy Margherio, Alexis Bass NOW HERE THIS SEATTLE (June 2019) - Directed by Megan Brewer Stage Managed by Sandra Bobman Cast - Arika Matoba, Hannah Kathline, Frank Sun, Carolynne Wilcox, Andrew Forrest, Nathan Drackett, Kayleah Lewis, Alexandria Stevens, Aimee Decker UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF DRAMA CABLAB (March 2019 - performances cancelled due to COVID-19) - Directed by Darby Sherwood and Sha Ritoch Stage Managed by Brittany Thomas and Raina Sadhan Cast and Crew - Natalie Modlin, Kendra Kolasinski, Elliott Chinn, Spencer Goodin, Darby Sherwood, Sagen Berry, Jaime Dahl, Ryn Paris, Megan Darby, Alaina Moretti, Alexandra Cotutiu, Tina Rajabi, Isaac Afolayan Prologue CALLIOPE Have you ever heard the story of Prometheus? CLIO He molded mankind out of clay. ERATO And then brought them fire. CALLIOPE And all of this made Zeus very angry. So, he chained Prometheus to a stake and set an eagle to eat his heart every day. After the eagle had eaten all but the smallest piece, it became whole again And the eagle began to eat it again and again and again. EUTERPE And Sisyphus? MELPOMENE He was forced to roll a gigantic boulder up a hill But every time it reached the top, The boulder would go tumbling down again And Sisyphus would push it all the way back Until it came tumbling down once again. THALIA And again and again. POLYHYMNIA And do you remember the story of Danaus and his daughters? TERPSICHORE Each of the daughters killed their husband. URANIA As punishment they were forced to carry water to a bowl until it could be filled to the brim. And yet, as much water as they brought, it would never be full. CLIO Because of the holes in the bottom. EUTERPE Why didn’t they ever think to patch the holes? ERATO They were told to carry the water, not patch the holes. CALLIOPE I suppose it seems easier to keep carrying the water than to go through the whole ordeal of changing the bowl. MELPOMENE Do you ever wonder why the gods seem so concerned with repetition? URANIA They watch history repeat itself. Day-in and day-out, they witness as humankind makes the same mistakes. So I guess the worst punishment is to see everything And yet be powerless to do anything. THALIA And what about the hydra? CALLIOPE Every time one head got cut off, another one grew back in its place. This is the story of the hydra, Or pieces of it. It’s not finished yet, But it keeps turning over and over. Scene One: Chechnya, 2019 KESIRA Mama, is this what we’re walking to? MALIKA Yes. KESIRA I don’t understand. It’s just a couple of trees between empty fields. MALIKA It’s a graveyard. KESIRA What? MALIKA See the way the grass grows differently over there? It’s the edge of a trench. Two - three hundred bodies down there. KESIRA Oh my god. MALIKA Your great grandfather is buried here somewhere. My mother used to point to the exact spot, But I think she pointed somewhere different every time. KESIRA I had no idea this existed. MALIKA It becomes easy to forget. (A moment of silence. MALIKA gazes at the tree as KESIRA walks around the field.) MALIKA (continued) Your great grandfather fought with the Red Army in World War II, Helped push the Nazis all the way out of Malgobek. Nohkcho Tsatsarov, one of many heroes. KESIRA I know that. Papa talks about him - and Keram, too. MALIKA Do you remember how the story goes after that? After the glory of war? KESIRA No. MALIKA He got his leg blown off. He had to come home. It was right around the start of the deportations. Stalin’s soldiers started pillaging the country, forcing all the Chechens out. They wanted everyone to walk to Kazakhstan and your great grandfather couldn’t walk anymore So they shot him in his good leg. You don’t die immediately from a shot in the leg. So there must’ve been… moments, I don’t know how long it takes, Where he saw the people he’d fought alongside Destroying everything he’d ever known. And that’s how his story ended. Nokhcho Tsatsarov, for all his medals and sacrifices and honor, Is now a stranger, lying forgotten in a mass grave. KESIRA Do you think he would rest easier if it had been a real grave? MALIKA Maybe. There used to be a plaque. Right here. KESIRA I can feel it. MALIKA People forget but there’s something in the universe that never does. KESIRA What happened to all of it? MALIKA It was torn down by the police Who were told to by the government. It used to be lovely, in a tragic way. After the Chechens were allowed to come back, There was a whole group of women who built a memorial to their husbands and fathers and sons. There were flags and plaques and headstones. And the ground was alive with flowers. For years, one person or another would always remember to replace the flowers. KESIRA And now it’s all gone. MALIKA Even the remnants of dead flowers. KESIRA All of this suffering… MALIKA Quieted. KESIRA It’s awful. MALIKA I wanted you to see this place before your father dies, Because it’s not us who die, Kesira. The women live to tell their stories And put headstones on their graves. ERATO Chechnya, 2019. Its own Greek tragedy set on the southern tip of Russia. After fifteen years of war, cities were reborn and rebuilt URANIA Which doesn’t stop them from decaying on the inside. ERATO Like flowers on graves. URANIA It’s always baffled me, The way they put flowers on graves. As if there aren’t already enough dead things in a cemetery. Before long the color fades from the petals as they separate from the stems, As they age decades in days. Until there’s just enough left to resemble ashes. MELPOMENE Not even a corpse. Not enough to bury But, still, something once living is now dead. Do they know that flowers die too? Or did they forget because it was convenient? Scene Two: Salem, 1692 EUTERPE And this is Salem, 1692. The Salem Witch Trials. Less than twenty years after the start of the witch trials, the Salem legislature formally apologized and restored the good names of all those accused and tried. A lot of good that does a corpse. ABIGAIL Good afternoon, Lieutenant Governor.